


you come to me wild and wired

by nevernevergirl



Series: the war is over and we are beginning [2]
Category: Runaways (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, I Love You, Missing Scene, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-20
Updated: 2020-11-20
Packaged: 2021-03-09 17:46:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27640208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nevernevergirl/pseuds/nevernevergirl
Summary: It takes a few hours after after sending Morgan le Fey back to hell and their parents back to Brentwood for Gert to realize she forgot to tell Chase she loves him.3x10 missing scene.
Relationships: Chase Stein/Gertrude Yorkes
Series: the war is over and we are beginning [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1685389
Comments: 7
Kudos: 29





	you come to me wild and wired

**Author's Note:**

> hiiiii i'm still here! i still have a shit ton of wips! i'm feeling very extremely nostalgic for this show lately, so here I am, trying to get back in the groove—I've technically written a canon compliant version of Gert telling Chase she loves him before, but this image popped into my head, and I thought it was hilarious, and then they were monologuing? idk!! this is super indulgent!! i missed them!!

It's four in the morning when Gert realizes she fucked up.

Her heart's still pounding from the remnants of a fading nightmare, but her arm is numb where Chase has rolled on top of it in his sleep. She'd almost forgotten how much of a bed hog he could be, how many times she'd woken up with his elbow in her face or his knee in her stomach. 

Gert thinks she's never been so relieved to be annoyed with someone in her life.

Carefully, she frees herself; Chase shifts a little in his sleep, and she watches him as she tries to shake the feeling back into her arm. She shouldn't wake him up. They can talk in the morning. Probably nothing will happen to keep them from talking in the morning. Probably everything will manage to stay calm and fine and normal for a few hours. 

Unless it didn't. Which was a crazy thing to think, obviously. But on par with the evil witch they'd just sent back to hell with an assist from a time machine, so.

Gert bites her lip and reaches out to shake his shoulder.

"Chase. Chase, wake up."

He moves again, groaning as he curls into himself.

"No," he mutters. "Sleep now."

She tries poking him in the side; he rolls fully onto his stomach, burying his face into his pillow. Gert sighs, sliding back down against the pillows until she's next to him, on her side, inches away from his ear. She takes a deep breath.

"I love you," she says, quietly. Just like that, like it's easy. It feels good. It feels really, really good. 

Chase stops trying to burrow into the mattress and freezes for a moment too short for even Gert to panic and second guess herself. 

(Or maybe, just this once, there's nothing to second guess.)

He turns onto his side, staring at her—dazed, but definitely, one hundred percent, absolutely awake.

"Um," he says. She bites her lip. 

"I was going to say it before," she says, in a rush. "After the dark dimension, after Ty showed me—I said a lot, actually, and I don't think you heard most of it, because you were looking up Smith, which was. It was nice, it really nice, and I was going to say it, but I got caught up in how nice you were being, and—"

"Gert," he says, grinning. He looks wide awake now, wild and wired. "Gert, it's okay. I know."

Gert frowns. "What? 

"The love thing," he shrugs. "I knew." 

She sits up, crossing her arms. She thinks she's glaring, which he would deserve.

"No, you didn't."

"Uh, yeah, I did."

" _No,"_ she says firmly. Chase bites his lip, like he's trying not to laugh, because he's an asshole _._

"I mean, I guess I didn't actually know. I just thought you might." He sighs, pushing himself up. "I fucked up. I screwed you over. I was a coward, and I let you down—"

"Hey, that's not—"

"I know you," he continues, steadily. "You have, like, the strongest moral compass of anyone I've ever met. And you still gave me all of these chances, even after we didn't talk for two years, and I blew you off in front of my friends, and I broke your trust. And I thought if you were going to let me be in your life again, even if we couldn't be together, maybe that meant you love me the way I love you. And if that was true, I better not blow it this time." 

"Chase, that's..." She takes a deep breath. Amazing? And too much, probably. Incredible, for sure. Overwhelming, definitely. "Remarkably insightful. And alarmingly self-deprecating."

He grins. It's wide and ridiculous and it makes him look like he did in kindergarten.

"It's too early for SAT words," he says. 

She laughs; it comes out high and loud and surprised.

"Chase Stein, you're always so—" she shakes her head. She can't stop herself from smiling; she takes his hand and laces their fingers together. "Can I, um. Can I tell you what I think about you?"

He inhales, sharply, and she squeezes his hand.

"You sure?" he asks. "I mean, nobody's even dying this time."

He says it lightly, like he's giving her an out.

"I think we were a couple of hours ago," she whispers, like it's not too soon to joke, like that doesn't tie her stomach in knots, like she can't see Chase's shoulders tense. 

"Okay," he says, somehow nodding like he's both encouraging her and bracing himself. "Lay it on me, Yorkes."

She thinks, idly, she should feel super embarrassed right now. She should back out and make a semi-mean joke instead. He'd let her. 

She's tired of taking outs. It's never worked for them. 

"You're so smart," she says, holding on to his hand tightly. "You act like you don't know what self-deprecate means, but you built your own superpower from scratch. When we argue...it's not because I disagree with everything you say, I just don't _get_ the way your mind works, and it makes me want to argue with you all the time, because I want to know what the hell you're thinking."

He grips her hand; she's a little worried it'll bruise. She runs her thumb along his knuckles.

"You could just ask," he tries to joke.

"Shut up, I'm not finished," she whispers. She bites her lip. "You want to love people," she says, quietly. "I don't—I don't always get it, like with your dad. And sometimes, I think you're just going to get hurt by it. But you want to love people because you're good. Because you believe in it."

"I believe in you," he says, so honestly it makes her chest hurt. "I love you."

"Yeah," she says, quietly. She smiles, just a little. "I know," she teases.

He laughs, wrapping an arm around her. She shifts closer to him, leaning her head against his shoulder. 

"I love you too," she adds, looking up at him. He rolls his eyes, grinning.

"Yeah, I got that from the monologue."

She elbows him, lightly. "You monologued first, asshole."

"Guess we match," he says, beaming. 

"That's so stupid," she replies, leaning up to kiss him. 

She's shifted onto his lap before she realizes she's still holding his hand. As he tilts his head back, as her lips graze his neck, she realizes she never wants to let go.


End file.
